Impact Projects 2009-10
Exchange of Knowledge on Disaster Recover and Reconstruction Lessons Learnt from the Sichuan Earthquake Reconstruction Project
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Wilton Fok
(
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
)
Telephone: 2857-8490
Email:
wtfok@eee.hku.hk
Project Objectives:
Providing rapid response to help rebuild Sichuan after the devastating earthquake on May 12, 2008, colleagues, students and alumni of the University of Hong Kong not only dug deep into their pockets to help provide immediate relief to the grief-stricken survivors, but also organized themselves in the most efficient manner to make best use of our strengths as an institution of higher learning to help the people of Sichuan in tangible ways. These include rebuilding projects, pre-school programmes, psychosocial intervention, assistance to mental patients, rehabilitation centres and a public awareness campaign, involving our experts across different disciplines, including microbiologists, engineers, orthopaedic surgeons and suicide prevention specialists.
The Yuanjia Primary School project saw our faculty members in Engineering and a zealous group of students across different disciplines, Engineering, Architecture, Business and Economics, Law, Medicine, and Social Sciences, bringing their knowledge and expertise to Sichuan to build a solar-powered multimedia satellite e-learning system for the reconstructed school. They contributed their expert knowledge in computers, networks, programming, solar energy, multimedia, and e-learning; and they introduced the concept of renewable energy to local students and promoted their awareness of environmental protection. The first Sichuan-Hong Kong interactive class was held on August 5, 2009 in the new multimedia computer laboratory, where enthusiastic Yuanjia students talked to staff, students and guests at HKU through the multimedia network newly installed in their school that had been rebuilt from rubble.
Our colleagues and students published a book entitled Reconstruction after the 512 Earthquake in May 2010, as a memorial to the earthquake after two years, to share their meaningful experience in this KE project.
Media reports
Hong Kong RFID Awards U-21 RFID Awards for Undergraduates and Postgraduates
Principal Investigator:
Prof. George Huang
(
Department of Industrial Manufacturing and System Engineering
)
Telephone: 2859-2591
Email:
gqhuang@hku.hk
This KE project supported students of the Department of Industrial Manufacturing and System Engineering to take part in the Hong Kong RFID Awards U-21 RFID Awards in 2010. The objectives of this competition are to promote the adoption of EPC/RFID technology and encourage technology/application development. The competition is opened for undergraduate or postgraduate students in local universities. The project can be submitted by one or a group of not more than six students, and coached by at least one teaching staff in a university.
A team of students: Mr. Ho Kin Wing, Mr. Fang Ji, Pan Yu and Mr. Pang Lam Yu won a Silver Award for their project titled “RFID-enabled Ubiquitous Shared Warehouse Management System”
Another team of students: Mr. Chan Ka Ho, Mr. Fong Ka Ming, Mr. Lam Wing Wai, Mr. Lee Wai Yan and Qin Zhifeng won a Certificate of Merits for their project titled: “RFID-enabled Mobile Smart Medication Solution in Hospital Wards”
Details of the award can be refer to: http://www.epcglobal.org.hk/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=230
Easy Programming for robot control
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Vincent Lau
(
Department of Computer Science
)
Telephone: 2857-8460
Email:
vmklau@cs.hku.hk
The "Easy Programming for Robots" lectures and workshops for secondary school students held at HKU in March/April 2010 received positive feedback from participants. This knowledge transfer activity, which was funded by the UGC Knowledge Exchange Funds awarded to Dr Vincent Lau, was co-organized by the Department of Computer Science, the Hong Kong New Generation Cultural Association Science Innovation Centre and the Broadlearning Education Limited.
The "Easy Programming for Robots" lectures and workshops for secondary school students held at HKU in March/April 2010 received positive feedback from participants. This knowledge transfer activity, which was funded by the UGC Knowledge Exchange Funds awarded to Dr Vincent Lau, was co-organized by the Department of Computer Science, the Hong Kong New Generation Cultural Association Science Innovation Centre and the Broadlearning Education Limited.
Participants learnt about programming through a visual programming tool – Scratch, which was developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). At the workshop, they learnt how to program the robot's facial expression and dance movement. A control panel is also created to tele-control the robot with remote video.
Source: https://www.cs.hku.hk/news/display.jsp?file=2010/0427_robot.htm
Following is a video clip of the workshop. The participants were having great fun!
